


Surplus to Requirements

by Drag0nst0rm



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Gen's going to give Costis a heart attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:37:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nst0rm/pseuds/Drag0nst0rm
Summary: In which neither the king nor Costis are quite where they're expected to be.





	Surplus to Requirements

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Queen's Thief.

He had promised his wife that he would not walk alone in the gardens without having them searched first. He had kept that promise.

He was walking on the garden wall instead.

Not the wall around the Queen's Garden, but a low stone wall that enclosed a smaller garden frequented by the megaron's less exalted inhabitants. Empty, at this time of night.

The moon was covered in silver clouds. Gen walked carefully across the thin ledge.

Someday, he would teach his children this. It was important to stay in practice.

The clouds around the moon thickened. He could imagine what Costis would say if he were here. The guard would have spent the last twenty minutes desperately trying to convince him to come down, and the decreased light would have been the final straw.

Costis was not due back from the watchpost he'd sent him and Kamet to for another day. When he arrived, Gen would have to give him as hard a time as ever, of course. In the meantime, however, there was no harm in just this once listening to his sense of self-preservation, which had recently begun sounding like Costis, exasperation and all. He'd reach the end of the wall and get down.

He stepped forward.

Onto a loose, crumbled stone.

Gen tumbled into empty air. Uncontrolled. Uncaught. Hook and hand clawed empty air.

It was a thief's right to fall.

 

Costis kept a wary eye upward as he made his way to the barracks. Probably no one outside of the Guard remembered him at this point, but he hadn't forgotten the falling roof tiles.

He turned a corner and the wall of one of the minor gardens became visible. A familiar figure balanced on top.

Costis bit back a sigh and headed towards his king.

The king, back to Costis, took a step and -

Fell.

The part of Costis that had seen things mortals were never meant to see thought, _He won't really fall._

The rest of him was already lunging forward.

One knee down, scraping against the path. Arms up. Heart in his throat. Please -

The word came out as a half-choked cry.

The king hit his arms. They jarred from the impact. His other knee hit the ground.

It was a good thing the king was not the imposing man he once thought a king should be, Costis thought, somewhat hysterically.

The only sound was ragged breathing.

"My King?" Costis asked in alarm. The king should have been complaining by now.

The king, Costis realized belatedly, was shaking.

"Costis," the king finally said. It was almost a question.

"Yes, your majesty."

"I'm not dead."

The moon finally revealed itself. The king looked sick.

Costis realized abruptly that he was still holding the king and tried to help him stand. The king caught on immediately and scrambled to his feet on his own and braced himself against the wall.

"I thought you weren't going to be back until tomorrow."

"I was early." He got to his feet, wincing.

"Fortunately." The king stretched out his own aches. "Good thing you weren't wearing full armor."

Costis imagined the metal arm guards digging into the king's spine and privately agreed. "Why - " He cut himself off. It wasn't his place to know.

"Why did I fall?" The king was back to his old self again, or at least wanted to appear to be. "Clearly, I am now surplus to requirements."

Costis snorted in disbelief.

A quick grin darted across the king's face. "Or perhaps to keep me humble."

"That's a lost cause," Costis muttered before his brain caught up and he cringed. "I - "

The king waved him off. "Do you always get more frank after near death experiences?"

Costis sighed and permitted himself one last bit of frankness for the night. "Just yours."

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt #13, "Falling."


End file.
